The present invention generally relates to manufacturing and repairing replaceable imaging components, and more particularly to techniques for providing a cartridge chip comprising a memory element adapted for selectably operating in different types of imaging cartridges.
In the imaging industry, there is a growing market for the remanufacture and refurbishing of various types of replaceable imaging components such as toner cartridges, drum cartridges, ink cartridges, and the like. Imaging cartridges, such as toner cartridges, once spent, are unusable for their originally intended purpose. Without a refurbishing process, they would simply be discarded, even though the cartridge itself may still have potential life. As a result, techniques have been developed specifically to address this issue. These processes may entail, for example, the disassembly of the various structures of the cartridge, replacing toner or ink, cleaning, adjusting or replacing any worn components and reassembling the cartridge.
Some imaging cartridges may include a cartridge chip having a memory device which is used to store data related to the cartridge or the imaging device. An imaging device may include laser printers, copiers, inkjet printers, facsimile machines and the like, for example. The imaging device, such as the printer, reads this data stored in the memory device to determine certain printing parameters and communicate information to the user. For example, the memory may store the model number of the cartridge so that the printer may recognize the cartridge as one which is compatible with that particular printer. Additionally, by way of example, the cartridge memory may store the number of pages that can be expected to be printed from the imaging cartridge during a life cycle of the cartridge and other useful data. The imaging device may also write certain data to the memory device, such as the amount of toner remaining in the cartridge. Other data stored in the cartridge may relate to the usage history of the imaging cartridge.
For a given imaging device such as a printer, the appropriate cartridges may be available in a variety of styles. Lexmark, for example, may sell a “Use and Return” cartridge and a “Non Use and Return” cartridge for a given printer model. Both of these types of cartridges interface with the printer in different ways and may include differing physical characteristics, such as different encoder wheels. Different functionality may need to be provided the cartridge chip for each of these types of cartridges. Previously, a single cartridge chip having a switch was utilized for both types of cartridges. Based on the setting of the switch, the cartridge chip would be compatible with one of the cartridge types. However, these switches increase both the cost and size of the cartridge chip. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide systems and methods for selecting a mode of operation for a cartridge chip which is user friendly, cost effective and minimizes the space consumed on the cartridge chip.